Manukau’s first internationally-branded hotel on the market

Manukau’s first internationally-branded hotel
placed on the market for sale ahead of
completion.

The land, building and management
business behind what will soon be Auckland’s newest
upscale hotel have been placed on the market for sale.

The
152-room four-and-a-half-star property at 16 Lakewood Court
in Manukau, South Auckland, is scheduled for completion by
the middle of this year, and is set to be branded under
Accor Hotel’s Sebel marque.

The 7,000 square metre
hotel is being built on a 4000 square metre site zoned mixed
use under the Auckland Council unitary plan. On completion,
it is forecast to initially employ some 55 staff across the
various management, housekeeping, reception/administration,
kitchen, food and beverage,, and maintenance sections, with
that complement grown to 75 when running at capacity.

The
land, building and business are being marketed for sale by
Bayleys Auckland salespeople Nick Thompson and James Chan,
with expressions of interest closing at 4pm on May 24.

Bayleys Real Estate’s director of hotels and tourism,
Nick Thompson, said the property had been designed and
configured to straddle both the business and leisure guest
sectors - making the most of the surrounding council and
privately-owned infrastructure assets and the property’s
central position to those.

“From a leisure perspective,
the hotel is conveniently situated just a few hundred metres
from two of Auckland’s biggest tourist attractions –
Rainbow’s End, and the Wero White Water Centre,” Mr
Thompson said.

“Additionally, it is envisaged the
property will be strongly utilised by the tour group markets
picking up clientele from Auckland International Airport off
evening flights and staying the night in Auckland before
heading south to the likes of Hobbiton and Rotorua. Likewise
for tour groups with clientele departing Auckland on early
morning flights.”

Auckland International Airport Ltd’s
last half-yearly financial results recorded that
international passenger numbers were up 13 percent
year-on-year to 5.1 million arrivals and departures. Traffic
counts show the airport caters for up to 150 international
flights on a busy day. The airport is New Zealand’s
biggest visitor gateway on both the domestic and
international scenes.

Australia remains New Zealand’s
largest tourism market, accounting for 39 percent of
arrivals, with China second, accounting for 11 percent of
arrivals. Mr Thompson said the strong increase in visitor
arrivals has contributed to the 64 percent increase in
Auckland hotel revenues over the last five
years.

“Concurrent with that growth, from a domestic
business guest perspective, The Sebel Manukau hotel’s
marketing will drive into the south-east Auckland corporate
sector with business activities stretching from Manukau on
its doorstep, east out to the industrial precinct around
East Tamaki,” Mr Thompson said.

“While there are now
multiple hotels servicing the corporate sector around
Auckland Airport, The Sebel Manukau will be the closest
internationally-branded accommodation provider to East
Auckland and Manukau.”

Mr Thompson said the hotel will
have a licensed open-plan style restaurant with seating
capacity for 50 diners, and a standalone bar. The commercial
kitchen will also service in-room dining requirements. The
Sebel Manukau will have 57 onsite car parks.

Facing onto
State Highway One, and with an entrance off Lakewood Court,
the hotel’s lobby, reception, and food and beverage
facilities will be situated on the lower ground floor, with
guest rooms spread over the upper five levels. Internal
access will be available through two lifts, with electronic
key cards issued to guests.

Mr Thompson said The Sebel
Manukau’s room inventory perfectly dovetailed into the
brand’s established global style persona of studio and
one-bedroom apartments, rather than family configured
options and penthouse suites.

Accor is the world’s
largest hotel operator – with more than 3500 hotels in 92
countries. It is New Zealand’s largest hotel operator –
with 29 hotels and almost 4,000 rooms under management.

It’s New Zealand brands include the Sofitel, Pullman,
Mercure, Novotel, Novotel Suites, Ibis, Ibis Styles and Ibis
Budget. The Manukau hotel will double Accor’s Sebel
presence in Auckland – with the brand’s other
Sebel-branded property overlooking the viaduct in the
downtown harbourside precinct.

James Chan said that while
the hotel would have a corporate guest element to its
marketing focus, the property had not been designed as a
business hotel capable of hosting conferences or
meetings.

“Instead, it has been designed as an adjunct
to one of the city’s ‘quiet achievers’ in the
meetings/incentives/conference/exhibitions (MICE) market,”
Mr Chan said.

“With the Vodafone Events Centre just four
minutes’ walk away, The Sebel Manukau hotel has
specifically been formatted to work in conjunction with the
venue by providing specialist accommodation and limited food
and beverage options, rather than compete against
it.

“The Vodafone Events Centre has a multitude of small
to medium-size meeting rooms for 10 – 50 attendees, with
the main floor area capable of holding conferences and
conventions for up to 1200 delegates, or performance events
for up to 4,000 people,” Mr Chan said.

“From an
operational perspective, is far more efficient to utilise
the assets of a dedicated function venue with highly
organised event-hosting infrastructure in place – such as
all the required audio-visual apparatus and staging
equipment.

“The opening of the Wero White Water Centre
two years ago this month has substantially improved the
attraction of holding meetings and conferences at the
adjoining Vodafone Events Centre by providing a unique and
high-adventure team building experience.

“The Sebel
Manukau will be the remaining piece in this MICE market by
providing four-star-plus accommodation on the doorstep of
both amenities.”

In addition to hosting conferences,
meetings and conventions, Vodafone Events Centre has also
hosted dozens of ‘ethnic’ weddings amongst Auckland’s
Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Pacific Island
communities over the past five years.

Mr Chan said that
with most weddings held on Saturdays, guest bookings from
that sector would integrate seamlessly with the corporate
market whose clientele was predominantly channelled into
Monday to Thursday stays.

Tourism Industry Association
statistics for the year ending December 2017 show that
Auckland’s three to five-star hotels recorded an average
occupancy rate of 86 percent, with a corresponding average
yield of $210 per room night.

The tourism industry’s
goal is to increase its total annual revenue of $35.9
billion in 2017 - to $41 billion by 2025. Mr Thompson said
the hotel accommodation sector was widely seen as critical
to growing the wider tourism economy, and The Sebel Manukau
property represented a unique opportunity in a tightly-held
segment of Auckland’s commercial real estate
market.

Caption: The land, buildings
and management business behind what will soon be
Auckland’s newest luxury hotel have been placed on the
market for
sale.

Bayleys is New Zealand's largest full-service real estate company. We offer expertise in the marketing and sale of a wide range of property, including residential real estate, farms and lifestyle blocks, and commercial and industrial property. This includes tourism and business sales such as hotels and motels. We also cover the real estate markets in Fiji and other Pacific Islands.

Bayleys also provides a complete property and facilities service including property management and valuations teams focused on achieving both Owner and Tenant satisfaction.

No other real estate company can match our breadth of coverage across all market sectors throughout New Zealand.

Contact Bayleys Real Estate

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